Page 41 of Pretend

She already knew that she wanted to save the original baseboards and cabinets and shelves built into the walls to the list, but she wasn’t sure about the staircase. It was incredibly beautiful, but years of neglect and half-assed repairs had destroyed it. For a moment, she debated asking Uncle Jared to grab a few of her old sketchbooks for her so that she could look for ideas to fix it, but that wasn’t really an option since that would probably end with Uncle Jared wondering why all of her stuff was packed in boxes and telling Eric.

That left…

Uncle Mark.

Since he lived in the original house that Noah built for his wife, Morgan could ask him to take a picture of the staircase with the hopes that it would help her come up with something to replace the staircase here. Making a note to send him an email later, Morgan focused on the rest of the list, only to sigh when she came to the siding. She was almost too afraid to find out what was hiding beneath that ugly green siding, but…

“Can you check to see what the siding is hiding?” she asked, knowing that there was no point in putting this off until later.

“I can do that,” Eric murmured, adding it to his list. “What about the driveway?”

As much as she would love to see the cobblestone driveway in all its glory, it was going to have to wait. “We should probably leave it covered for now. I don’t want to risk doing any damage to it while the house is under construction,” Morgan said as she thought about the dumpsters that were going to take up half of the front lawn and all the delivery trucks making their way onto the property.

“Good idea,” Eric said, making another note before asking, “And the carpet?”

“Has to go,” Morgan said, watching his lips twitch as he added it to the list.

“I’ll find out what’s hiding beneath it after lunch,” he promised as he went through his list one more time before he looked up. “That’s going to cost you…” Eric began, only to let his words trail off as he looked back down at his clipboard, “Seven kisses.”

“Seven kisses?” Morgan repeated back slowly as she tried to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

“Mmmhmm,” Eric murmured as he glanced back down at his list. “One for checking the electric, another one for checking the heat, the air conditioning, the siding, the plumbing, the carpet, and, of course, the roof, which I’m going to have to charge you two kisses for,” only to add, “I could die,” at her questioning look.

“I see,” Morgan said, nodding absently as she pushed her glasses back up her nose, mostly to hide the smile that was threatening to break free. Clearing her throat, she asked, “Are these prices negotiable?”

With a long-suffering sigh and a sad shake of his head, Eric said, “This is the best that I can do,” as he reached over and took her hand in his and gave it a gentle tug as he pushed his chair back, giving her no other choice but to go to him for the house’s sake, of course. “I’m afraid that I’m going to need a deposit.”

“How many kisses is that going to cost me?” Morgan asked, making sure to sound put out even as she struggled to remember how to breathe as he pulled her closer.

“Two,” Eric said, reaching up to cup her face in his hand as her gaze flickered to his lips as she found herself leaning down, unable to help herself and-

Softly moaned when her lips met his.

She’d only kissed two other men in her life, men she’d hoped could make her feel even half of what she felt for Eric, but neither one of them had been able to make her feel anything more than regret when their lips touched hers. But Eric…

The first brush of his lips against hers had her breath catching, the second left her trembling, and the third had her sighing softly with relief as she released his hand so that she could cup his face in her hands. She took her time savoring the feel of his lips brushing against hers, the soft groan that he released as she gently caressed his jaw, enjoying the feel of his freshly shaved skin against hers and-

It wasn’t enough.

For years, she’d dreamed of kissing this man, imagined how good it would feel to finally be in his arms, and now, she didn’t want to waste any more time. She didn’t know how this was going to end, and as much as that terrified her, she didn’t want to have any regrets when this was all over, and she knew that if she didn’t kiss him the way that she’d dreamed of that she would regret it.

Morgan allowed herself one last brush of her lips against his before she tilted her head just enough so that the next time that she felt his lips brush against hers, she parted her lips and-

Swallowed his groan when he took over, deepening the kiss as his tongue found hers with a gentle caress that had her moaning. They took their time with slow, teasing caresses of their tongues, and gentle brushes of their lips as she felt her body come alive. Pleasure slowly made its way down her body, causing goosebumps to race along her skin and her toes to curl as her nipples hardened and-

She needed more.

She needed him was the last coherent thought that tore through her head before Morgan found herself straddling his lap as the kiss turned hungry. His arms wrapped around her as he pulled her closer until her breasts were crushed against his chest and she couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

She’d never felt this desperate before, never felt her body ache like this before, and she never thought anything could feel this good. Moaning his name, Morgan slid her fingers through Eric’s hair as his hands slowly moved down her back and-

“Oh, God…” Morgan whimpered against Eric’s lips when he used his hold on her bottom to pull her closer until she felt the large bulge pressing against her through his jeans and-

“How slow do you want to take this?” Eric asked, breaking off the kiss so that he could kiss his way down to her neck as his hands gently kneaded her bottom.

“I don’t want to rush this,” Morgan managed to get out on a moan. She’d waited so long for this and wanted to savor every moment.

“Then, we should probably stop now,” Eric said, pressing one last kiss against her neck before his lips found hers again and she was left struggling to remember why they had to take this slowly. She allowed herself one last brush of her lips against his before she reluctantly climbed off his lap.

---